This invention relates to a bed assembly for a motor vehicle. More particularly, the invention relates to a reduced weight bed assembly for a motor vehicle having a secure connection between a floor pan and a sidewall panel.
A majority of motor vehicle component parts are formed from steel. The use of steel for the component parts is advantageous in many regards: it is relatively inexpensive, recyclable, and can be shaped into finished parts easily. Steel is, however, also a heavy material. Thus, the use of steel in forming many of the component parts of the motor vehicle results in an increase in the overall weight of the motor vehicle.
Reduction of overall motor vehicle weight is a constant goal for motor vehicle manufacturers. A reduction in motor vehicle weight increases fuel efficiency and can result in lower manufacturing costs. Previous reductions in motor vehicle weight have been achieved by reducing the number of component parts and by using different materials to form the component parts. With regard to the use of different materials, many component parts are now being made from aluminum, synthetic materials, such as plastic, and other materials that are lighter than steel.
Pickup trucks, and certain hybrid vehicles, include a bed at a rear portion to provide a storage space for large items. The bed commonly occupies a significant area of the pickup truck. Thus, manufacturing a reduced weight bed would contribute significantly to reducing the overall weight of the pickup truck. The use of plastic materials to form a reduced weight bed is known to those skilled in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,439,649 to Lorenzo et al. discloses a bed that is formed from a plurality of sections each separately molded from a plastic material. The plurality of sections includes a central section defining most of a floor and a front wall, a left side section defining a left sidewall and a portion of the floor, and a right side section defining a right sidewall and the remaining portion of the floor. In one of the multiple embodiments of the invention, the left sidewall is secured to the floor portion of the left section by a tongue in groove joint. The floor portion of the left side section includes a groove defined by spaced apart upright walls. The left sidewall includes a protruding tongue, which is received within the groove to secure the left sidewall to the floor portion of the left section.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,642 to Grimm et al. discloses a vehicle pick-up bed that is made from polymeric material and that can be folded into shape by hand. The vehicle pick-up bed is formed from a sheet of material adhered to a generally flat sheet of reinforced polymeric material. The sheet of material is placed in a mold. The reinforced polymeric material is injected into the mold over a back side of the sheet of material. The reinforced polymeric material and the sheet of material are then molded into a solid, forming a generally flat component. When the molding process is complete, the generally flat component is folded along a plurality of hinge edges into the shape of the vehicle pick-up bed. The vehicle pick-up bed, after folding, includes a center section or floor, a first side wall, a second side wall, and a third side wall.
Besides the use of plastic materials, the overall weight of the motor vehicle can also be reduced by utilizing different manufacturing methods. A typical floor pan is formed by a stamping operation, which requires sheet material of a certain thickness. The thickness of the sheet material provided is greater than that desired in the finished floor pan to compensate for reductions in thickness that occur during stamping. But because the amount of thickness reduction varies in each stamping operation, the resulting floor pan can still be quite thick, thus increasing the weight of the motor vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,454 to Jurica et al. discloses a roll forming process to be used in the stead of the stamping operation to manufacture a floor pan of a vehicle bed. In the roll forming process, a thin sheet of metal is utilized to form the floor pan. As a result, the weight of the bed is reduced, contributing to a reduction in the overall weight of the motor vehicle.
A bed assembly for a motor vehicle includes a floor pan that defines a bed surface extending between longitudinal sides. Each of the longitudinal sides includes a side support surface spaced from and parallel to the bed surface. The bed assembly also includes a sidewall panel having a lower end defining a base surface disposed adjacent to and supported by the side support surface. In addition, the bed assembly includes a retention member extending along a portion of one of the longitudinal sides to secure the base surface to the side support surface. The retention member maintains the sidewall panel in abutting relation to the floor pan.